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Naval Icebreakers

Kirkhill

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I'd like the navy to have its own icebreaker that way we would not have to go through the red tape of using CCG assets. Give it a light gun armament, 2 embarked helicopters and light crago capacity and we could help supply the northern communites while conducting patrols.

Waaay back in November of 2004 Ex-Dragoon posted the above comment.  I don't know if this is what he was thinking about at the time but the Conservatives' proposal for 3 icebreakers got me looking for what's available.  This is the Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel Svalbard - a 6500 tonne ice-breaking patrol vessel with a Bofors 57, a pair of NH90s, *1a1 ice-breaking (1 m) and an open water speed of 17 knots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KV_Svalbard
http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMII/MMIIMar12.html
http://www.marinetalk.com/articles_HTML/DNV00955403IN.html

Combines ice-breaking, with sovereignty presence, observation post, FARP for helicopters and possibly a hotel for Northern Troops on exercise as well as a transport vessel for over-snow vehicles.

PS that monitor for fire-fighting might also come in useful when dealing with Norwegian and Danish trawlers.  :)
 
I think fully equipped Icebreakers are an excellent asset for our Country. Combined with our subs (when they are all operational) it should be an adequate presence for our Northern area. Initially I did not key in on that part of the Defence platforms but it did become one of the reasons why I voted for them (Conservative)
 
if you can read Norwegian:

http://www.skipsrevyen.no/batomtaler/6-01/1054.html

80M USD W/O helos and radar...

Mike.
 
I took a look at that Norwegian link...nice looking ship. Would that be the type we would employ. I tried to figure out how much 574 or so million krone is. What is that in Cdn Dollars. Sounds like a lot, which probably means we won't see them. We will probably get the old Italian/german/canadian/multipurpose tug and we won't trial it because the price is right and all the politicians got a piece of the pie....oops there I go again...ranting....ohmmmm happy place....happy place. ;)
 
At the price they are pretty reasonable.  Crewing isn't bad either, if I haven't garbled the translation to much it looks as if it carries a complement of 20 officers and 28 other ranks, with a helidet of 4 and room for an additional 75 passengers. 

The hangar is supposed to hold 2 NH-90s although they are only operating one Lynx until the NH-90s come into service.

She can navigate through one-year? (maybe multi-year?) ice of up to 1 meter but can punch through compacted ice up to 4 meters thick.  She is rated Det Norske Veritas Polar 10 class,  their highest rating.  Interestingly Langsten is as sister company to Kvaerner, both divisions of Aker.  IIRC Kvaerner built the Coast Guard vessel Leonard J. Cowley in Vancouver.  Ice Breakers in Vancouver, Transports in St. John's and AORs at Davie?  Not a bad election ploy and new kit into the bargain?
 
Aker Marine (Masa Marine) designed the Leonard J. Cowley, the ship was built by West Coast Manly Shipyards Ltd. (whoever they are now I'm not too sure...).

Mike
 
100 million apiece, that actually doesn't sound too bad, so 300 million, plus add-ons and maintenance, still not bad. Let's see if the Conservatives stick to their promise, and hope they can get enough support to push it through parliament. I'm hoping Canadians have voiced a strong enough opinion about it that most MP's will make it a go....keeping fingers crossed.

Gplummer421 :cdn:
 
I think the conservative quoted something like 2B for 3 icebreakers and the deep water Arctic port, If the project does go through I would think that the ships the navy would get would be more substantial than the Norwegian vessel, even if built in Canada???

Mike
 
OK.  Here's my best attempt at a translation of Mainer's article.  Some blanks but hopefully no major confusion of numbers and capabilities.

She is an ice-breaker, a tow-vessel, a fire-fighter, a pollution containment vessel, a heli-platform, a refuelling station, a transport for up to 75 passengers and two helicopters, a surveillance vessel and a command ship for fisheries protection, search and rescue, pollution and sovereignty operations.   Provided with an NBC citadel and an operations center it sounds like. 

6300 tonnes, 103 m by 19 m with a 6 m draft and, if I understand correctly good for 1 m ice going forwards and 4 m ice in reverse.

Crew of 20 plus 28 and 4 in the helidet.

Price 101 MCAD

From other articles it appears she also has a 57mm deck gun.

K/V “Svalbard”

- Coast Guard Ship From Langsten

The new pride of the Navy, K/V “Svalbard” was taken over from Langsten AS on the 15th of December (2001?). The Coast Guard Ship is the Navy’s only ice-breaker and the largest vessel in the whole force.  This is Langsten’s build number 182.  The ship cost 575 millioner kroner (101 MCAD as of 24 Jan 2006).


…..Minister of Defence Kristin Krohn Devold, with …. Kjell Inge Rokke and other dignitaries ringside.  (Rokke owns Aker which in turn owns Langsten).  It has taken eight years to realise this vessel, from when the project was begun at SFK in August 1993 to this day. So this was a big day, to have the ship handed over.  In 1993 it was intended that the new Coast Guard Vessel should be ready in 1997, but suddenly in 1995 production was stopped. That was a lack of money.  Then the force planning guidance de-prioritized the ship and from 1996 until 1998 it was uncertain if the ship would be completed at all.  But in 1999 it was put back into the plan again, and in December of that year contracts were let with Langsten.  Langsten has a solid tradition of building modern marine vessels. Amongst others the spy ship “Marjata” was built here.

The hull of “Svalbard” was built by Tangen Yards.  It is built in special steel and comprises at least 50,000 pieces and 40 sections.  By the 17th of February (2000?) the hull was launched and towed to Tomrefjorden in Romsdal, where Langsten finished the vessel.

K/V “Svalbard” is a gigantic vessel with a displacement of some 6300 tonnes, a length of 103 meters and a breadth of over 19 meters making it the Navy’s largest for the foreseeable future.

…….

The Coast Guard

……

K/V “Svalbard” is classified as a Polar 10 Icebreaker by DNV (Det Norske Veritas), the highest polar ice class defined in DNV’s regulations and the most powerful icebreaker ever built in Norway.  The vessel is specially built for sailing in ice infested waters, and be able to operate in multi-year (year old?) polar ice with a thickness of up to one meter.  The northern Barents Sea, especially in winter time, will be the vessel’s primary area of operation.  The ship can also break ice ridges, back up and “screw guard (?)” about four metes deep.  (Not clear on this – may have to do with the azipod drive and the ability of similarly designed, double-ended ice-breaking tankers, to turn around and drive through ice backwards).

The vessel has also a De-Ice class notation, being equipped with an anti-icing system with a capacity of 1500 kW.  She has got 17 km of heating cable in all outside decks and the front of the boat to this purpose.  This prevents icing which can be a great problem in arctic (operations?).

K/V “Svalbard” has a helicopter deck and hangar and will have a helicopter on board when the vessel is out on patrol.  In the hangar there is room for two helicopters. The advantage of helicopters is that they can operate freely and relatively far from the vessel.  In addition to supervision and control of the fishery violations the helicopter is a really important resource for search, rescue and assistance.

The ship will bring to the Coast Guard many useful capabilities including ice-breaker, towing vessel and helicopter platform.  The vessel has really good capacity in search and rescue and can carry through “clean-up” (?) of polluted environments in the extremity (?)  (might also just mean that it can continue to operate in a very harsh environment).

Dimensions

Length overall 103.7 m
Length post to post   89.0 m
Greatest width   19.1 m
Draught (KVL)     6.5 m

Tank capacity is about 500 tonnes of fuel oil and 200 tonnes of fresh water.  That is enough for 127 persons.

Class: DNV *1A1, Icebreaker Polar 10, RPS, F-A, E0, HELDK-SH, De-Ice, FiFi1.

Machinery

The ship is diesel-electric with a power plant of four Bergen Diesel BRG-8 engines, producing around 13,020 kW altogether.  Propulsion is provided by two Azipods, each of 5000 kW, which are classified Icebreaker Polar 10.  In addition ABB “provided” (?) a conventional Azipod of about 15 MW power output to obtain this classification.  RPS in the class notation means that the ship has “redundant propulsion separated”.


The vessel is also outfitted with a Brunvoll bow-thruster (?). Harbour power generation consists of a Volvo Penta diesel engine of 1071 kW which drives a Stamford generator of 1339 kVa.  The pumping system is from Ing. Per Gjerdrum AS, the separators from Westfalia and the compressors from Sperre.  Heat exchangers are manufactured by APV and supplied by AS Norco Oslo.

Engine room isolation is by R&M Industries AS and the ventilation is by ABB Miljo.  …. is from Pyro and tank monitoring systems by ABB.  The engine room is fire-protected with the Argonite system from Heien-Larssen and an alarm system from Autronica.

Deck

The ship is notably outfitted with a helicopter deck and a hangar with room for two helicopters.  Also installed onboard is a helifuel-system, with outfitting for refuelling of each helicopter together with other types, both on the heli-deck and in the air.  The vessel can therefore function as a mobile platform at sea (and re-provisioning island?) for military and other helicopters on operations that would otherwise not be possible.  The advanced foam monitor system on the heli-deck is supplied by Heien-Larssen, but the Fi-Fi system is from Kvaerner Eureka.  The heli-deck is also equipped with gyro-stabilised in-flight reference system (light) and contour lighting,  “virtually making manning free operations (?)”.  Flight Centre has also been instrumented with a datalink to the Norwegian Meteorolgical Institute to supply weather reports.

The deck gear, including hatches, deck machinery such as anchor, vessel and towing winches are supplied by Hydrakraft.  The anchor and….is from Erling Haug, windows and light ports from Marine Aluminium, water tight doors from Winell and fire doors from Nor-Pro.  Davits from MOB-baten.  Deck and Navigation lights?  are from Tranberg, searchlight? From Norselight.  The ship is instrumented by a system from International Maling.

Interior and Miscellaneous.

The vessel is for a crew of 20 officers and 28 other ranks, with a four-man helidet. In addition the the ship has accommodation for more than 75 persons.

The interior is held “secure” as there is a gas citadel / over-pressure ventilation system where all incoming ship’s air will be scrubbed for radio-active, bacteriological and chemical contamination.

Interior work spaces are outfitted by R&M Industries.  TeamTech supplied the incinerator and Evac vacuum toilet system.  Electro-technicals consultant was Skan-El, but ABB Installations AS supplied the electric installation.  E0-system is the ABB Advant Station 500 series.

The electronic outfit was installed by Electronicon AS.  The outfit includes advanced instrumentation with air and surface radar, colour-, black/white and IR cameras, sonar …. for over and under water communication.  The system has the capability to record, store and present all this information real-time and time-delay (?), with “intention” (?) of documenting and evaluating incidents.  This gives the vessel a good capacity in the role of Command Vessel in large operations in connection with rescue, pollution and sovereignty operations.
 
There was a very interesting Discovery episode on working in extreme icy conditions. The best part of the show ( I thought ) was the explenation as to why the Finn's are the leaders in icebreaker technology today.

Through much R&D the Finn's have come up with at present the best combination for an icebreaker, a AZIPOD drive housed in a ship that actually drives backwards through the ice. The ship in the show was a new double hulled tanker (not sure the name) but it was most impressive in that it had no trouble at all, without the help of a true icebreaker, thus was far more economical to operate.

This site is not exactly about the show but it does go into Finnish icebreaker/ship design technology...

http://www.hightechfinland.com/2004/newmaterialsprocess/kvaerner.html

From Azipod® to double-acting ship
Combining the advantages of electric propulsion with superb manoeuvrability, very low noise and vibration levels, and valuable savings in machinery space, Azipod drives represent a major step forward in ship propulsion – whether in the ice packs of the North- East Passage or the balmy waters of the Caribbean. The Azipod has also provided the inspiration for a totally new concept – the double-acting ship, a concept for which Masa-Yards has been awarded patents in a number of countries, including the U.S. and Russia.

Traditionally, when designing a bow, a ship designer has always had to balance the conflicting needs of good open water and icebreaking performance. If he focuses too much on good icebreaking capability, he pays a price in poor open water performance and bad sea-keeping properties, and vice versa.

The emergence of pod drives has changed all that, however. A fully rotating pod gives the designer a unique possibility to design the bow to be good in open water and the stern to be good at breaking ice.

The bow design of Masa-Yards’ doubleacting tanker (DAT) concept incorporates experience built up with conventional vessels, and is an efficient, ice-strengthened structure that is capable of turning in open water performance some 10-15% better than that of a conventional ice-breaking bow.

A DAT vessel enters a ridge field at slow or moderate speed, and lets its pulling propeller chew up the ridge and slowly pull the vessel through, without any need for ramming.

The first DAT cargo vessels fitted with Azipods – the Natura and the Tempera, two Masa-Yards-designed, 106,000 dwt tankers equipped with single 16 MW pods – were commissioned in 2003.

Azipod propulsion enters its third generation
http://www.hightechfinland.com/2004/newmaterialsprocess/abbazipod.html




 
http://www.scandoil.com/moxie/news/company_news/aker-yards-merges-kvaerne.shtml

Aker Yards merges Kvaerner Masa-Yards and Aker Finnyards, the new company will be named Aker Finnyards
Posted Wednesday, September 8, 2004

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Aker Yards Group announced today that it will merge its two shipyards in Finland, Kvaerner Masa-Yards Inc and Aker Finnyards Inc. The new company will be named Aker Finnyards. The Aker Finnyards name describes Aker Yards shipyard activities in Finland. The new, operative organisation will take effect on January 1, 2005.
 

Masa-Yards will acquire Aker Finnyards share capital and change its name into Aker Finnyards. In connection with the acquisition, the present Aker Finnyards will change its name into Aker Finnyards Rauma and function as a subsidiary to Aker Finnyards until next year, when the subsidiary will be merged with Aker Finnyards.

This conglomerate company is responsible for the double-acting tankers you alluded to, the Svalbard mentioned above, the Cowley of the Canadian Coast Guard, as well as OPVs for the Irish, New Zealand and other Navies

http://www.masamarine.com/ship_types.html
 
IIRC the double acting tanker runs about 90M USD, there was a program on Discovery Channel about it and the azipod technology and how well it works in ice, pretty interesting stuff. Also this is an interesting read on the future of the Arctic and potential economic gains from the melting ice cap...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/10/healthscience/web.1010arctic.complete.php

Mike.
 
Kirkhill said:
Waaay back in November of 2004 Ex-Dragoon posted the above comment.  I don't know if this is what he was thinking about at the time but the Conservatives' proposal for 3 icebreakers got me looking for what's available.  This is the Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel Svalbard - a 6500 tonne ice-breaking patrol vessel with a Bofors 57, a pair of NH90s, *1a1 ice-breaking (1 m) and an open water speed of 17 knots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KV_Svalbard
http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMII/MMIIMar12.html
http://www.marinetalk.com/articles_HTML/DNV00955403IN.html

Combines ice-breaking, with sovereignty presence, observation post, FARP for helicopters and possibly a hotel for Northern Troops on exercise as well as a transport vessel for over-snow vehicles.

PS that monitor for fire-fighting might also come in useful when dealing with Norwegian and Danish trawlers.  :)

Hmm wonder where my consultation cheque is? ;)
 
Submit your request to Kjell Rokke ex-Dragoon.  If the boats are built it'll likely be his yards that get the commission.....besides he's got lots of cash and loves sailors.  ;)
 
On a side note, the Americans don't seem to like Harper's plans for the North.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/01/26/wilkins-harper060126.html

I gonna guess that Canadian public support for his naval icebreakers will now skyrocket...

Mike.
 
Mainer:

Their nattering about it over here.

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/39008.0.html
 
G'day to all
Just observing from the "outside" but I had a couple of questions regarding the proposed icebreakers. Could an "AOR" capacity for the Subs be incorporated into the design to increase deployment time? If they did have this capacity would operating the Victoria class in our northern or at least the more northern coastal waters be possible?
 
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